The Emperor Penguin's Gift
The real reason Yeon-woo had decided to spend a full ten minutes choosing a sniper rifle was something else entirely.
Gazing at the countless sniper rifles arrayed on the shelves, he raised his hand slightly.
"I have a question."
The staff member looked over at him.
"Go ahead."
"As long as I don't set them on the floor, am I free to take them off the shelves, handle them, and examine them?"
After a brief moment of thought, the staff nodded. Of course—when you were choosing something, being free to touch and inspect it was only natural.
"That's correct."
"I have no idea what kind of harsh environments I'll end up using it in, so I'd like to examine them carefully. That should be fine, right?"
The staff tilted his head at Yeon-woo asking for confirmation a second time.
"Yes, of course."
Having secured a clear answer twice, Yeon-woo nodded. Then he began examining the guns in extreme detail. Extremely fine detail.
Click-click.
Clack—.
Clack—.
Pulling a screwdriver and wrench from his military bag—when had he even packed those?—Yeon-woo began disassembling a sniper rifle from the shelf in an instant. The staff member who saw it rushed over in shock.
"W-wait a moment."
"Yes?"
Yeon-woo looked at the approaching staff with a perfectly calm face that said, Is there a problem? Even so, his hands never stopped flying through the disassembly.
"No, you can't just do that recklessly…"
Looking at the flustered staff trying to stop him, Yeon-woo tilted his head with a completely clueless expression.
"A firearm is something that needs to be periodically disassembled and maintained. Shouldn't we inspect for any potential defects in advance?"
Faced with Yeon-woo's confident expression, the staff hesitated, unable to stop him further. He judged that Yeon-woo had a point.
Static—.
"Requesting immediate engineer support at Site A-26."
In the end he opened the radio channel and called for an expert. Meanwhile Yeon-woo finished disassembling the sniper rifle with quick, precise hand movements. The rifle, composed of countless parts, now lay completely broken down and neatly arranged on the shelf.
Hmm… so this is the structure.
While Yeon-woo was examining the disassembled barrel and its connections in detail with a military flashlight, the equipment specialist arrived after receiving the staff's radio call.
"I received the support request. What's the matter?"
Yeon-woo paid no attention to whoever had entered, pouring every ounce of focus into examining the interior of the disassembled gun. The staff looked at him with a bewildered expression, then quietly asked the expert.
"Engineer, is this okay? The player said he wanted to examine it carefully, so I said yes—but then he suddenly started disassembling it…"
The engineer adjusted his glasses with one hand and quietly observed Yeon-woo. After watching in silence for a while, he nodded with satisfaction and answered.
"He's disassembled it exactly according to the manual. He seems to have quite extensive knowledge of firearms. There shouldn't be any problem."
"…I-is that so?"
While the flustered staff scratched his head at the unexpected answer, Yeon-woo quickly reassembled the gun he had taken apart, then pulled out another one and began disassembling it again.
Hmm… if they've modified it this way, a simple bolt-action design would be better.
The reason he had poured every scrap of effort into repeatedly disassembling and reassembling guns within the short time allotted was because this was a survival game. Strictly speaking, it wasn't the "survival" that mattered—it was the "game."
The moment he heard there was a chance to acquire special weapons, the first thing that came to mind was Kim Su-hyeok's sniper rifle. It was only natural that a sniper's abilities would be maximized when holding a sniper rifle. However, since this was a survival game rather than an actual battlefield, he needed to examine things carefully.
Range is ultimately determined by how much kinetic energy the bullet receives when fired.
In this survival game, specially manufactured practice rounds would be used. Most details related to the military were classified, but according to materials Blue Whale Gate had sent in advance, the practice rounds were special bullets made with new materials that, upon contacting a player's protective gear, would disperse the impact energy and shatter into powder. Thanks to that, they achieved much longer range and faster muzzle velocity than the airsoft guns used in the original Survival Island, implementing combat similar to reality.
But that's for ordinary rifles or pistols.
Only after completely taking them apart and looking inside thoroughly did Yeon-woo choose one sniper rifle.
"I'll take this one."
What Yeon-woo held out was an old-style bolt-action sniper rifle with a stock and barrel made of reddish-brown walnut wood. The engineer who had been watching him lit up with interest.
"Despite there being plenty of modern firearms, you chose a very classic and old one? I think this was released during President Nixon's time. If your criterion is romance, it's quite a nice choice. Haha."
Yeon-woo smiled quietly at the engineer's words. Both of his statements were wrong.
Not Nixon—Johnson. It was used in the early stages of the Vietnam War.
And the criterion for Yeon-woo choosing the antique brown walnut sniper rifle was by no means romance.
It's simply because this is the most efficient.
It was a choice made from a thoroughly pragmatic perspective. Even though they used new-material bullets manufactured with US military technology, from the manufacturer's standpoint they would have definitely modified the guns to significantly reduce basic firepower in order to prevent any potential accidents in advance. And since without optical equipment combat only became possible when the opponent entered visual range, that level of range would be sufficient.
But sniper rifles are different.
If they met the modification specs demanded by the manufacturer, a sniper rifle meant for suppressing enemies at long range could easily become useless. What merit did a sniper rifle that couldn't shoot from afar have? Therefore he needed to figure out in advance how they had been modified and pick out the gun that would likely have the longest range. To secure even a slightly longer range, he needed a gun with the simplest operating mechanism that could also accelerate the bullet as much as possible along a long barrel until it was ejected toward the target.
I've put this much effort into it—Lambda should at least earn his keep, right?
At that moment, Lambda and Tau—that is, Kim Su-hyeok and Park Jung-hyeon—were riding in a vehicle with a guide, on the move.
"Judging by the left turn here, it seems like we're heading to the port?"
"That's right. Straight ahead is the airport; left is the port."
Although their eyes weren't covered the way Yeon-woo's had been, they were exchanging information in Korean with the same thoughts as when Yeon-woo was taken away.
"The actor isn't coming with us."
At Park Jung-hyeon's words, Kim Su-hyeok quietly nodded and continued.
"From now on, Actor Ryu Yeon-woo is our team leader—so not 'actor.' Team Leader."
"Ah, yes."
Although it was a temporary team for a TV show, for the duration of this mission Actor Ryu Yeon-woo was their superior. Kim Su-hyeok, whose personality could never tolerate insubordination under any circumstances, intended to thoroughly carry out operations exactly as Actor Ryu Yeon-woo directed. Considering the judgment he had shown on Survival Island and the talent observed while spending the past three days together, he expected that even as a civilian, Yeon-woo would perform his role quite well.
If a team of only three has two commanders, it would be a complete mess.
While thinking various things, as Kim Su-hyeok and Park Jung-hyeon had guessed, the car entered the port. Of course, until then they had no idea what had happened inside this warehouse over the past hour.
Vans lined up in front of the large warehouse on the pier, and team members from each country got out. In fact, since the team members were specialists who had worked currently in their fields, the aura emanating from each person stepping out of the cars was formidable. Kim Su-hyeok and Park Jung-hyeon also scratched their heads and got out with leisurely steps, looking around.
"I've only ever dragged people into secluded warehouses like this—it's my first time being the one brought in."
"Agreed."
As Park Jung-hyeon nodded in agreement, the guide approached from behind.
"Korean team, right? This way, please. I'll guide you."
As the two followed the guide into the warehouse, team members from other countries were also each assigned a staff member and guided to the waiting area. Upon entering the warehouse, Kim Su-hyeok looked around once and tilted his head.
"Looks like they gathered just the team leaders beforehand and did something before we arrived?"
There was a shooting range, and far away players were running around in a space filled with black shelves. Then Park Jung-hyeon pointed to one spot with his thick finger.
"Did you see that?"
1. Ryu Yeon-woo — Republic of Korea (KOR)
2. Marco Banchero — Italy (ITA)
(…)
20. Paweł Kamiński — Poland (POL)
When Kim Su-hyeok looked in the direction Park Jung-hyeon's finger indicated, he saw Ryu Yeon-woo's name glowing on the electronic board.
"Hmm. Whatever it is, from the top is the good order, right? If our team leader is either first or last, I'm betting first."
"I think so too."
The staff member who had guided them to their seats opened his mouth at the sight of the two of them.
"That's the ranking from Round One. Korean team, you said? As expected of the original series champion—overwhelming skill. The other countries weren't even in the same league."
"Ah, is that so?"
Somehow Kim Su-hyeok's shoulders rose. Koreans abroad tended to develop a sudden patriotism they never had at home, and Kim Su-hyeok—who had always been tightly packed with patriotism to begin with—couldn't help the corners of his mouth lifting. Years of overseas deployments spent constantly mixing with soldiers of other nationalities had only strengthened that tendency. If the mechanism that moved Park Jung-hyeon was gukbap, then Kim Su-hyeok's mechanism was pure national pride, and that was no exaggeration.
"If you wait just a moment, the players who completed this round's final mission will be returning."
Kim Su-hyeok nodded at the staff's explanation and looked toward the distant black shelves.
"Mission meaning equipment, huh…"
Just then, something plump and bulky burst out from between the shelves. The way it came running toward them, waddling the whole way, looked exactly like a penguin. And not just any penguin—the largest of the penguin family, the Antarctic emperor penguin.
"Is that our team leader?"
At Park Jung-hyeon's words, Kim Su-hyeok shook his head.
"Tsk. Calling the team leader 'that.'"
Even so, he watched the approaching penguin—no, Ryu Yeon-woo—with a curious expression.
"I don't know what's in it, but he packed that field gear pretty solidly."
"Looks like the mission was to choose the equipment themselves."
At that, Kim Su-hyeok nodded with a troubled look.
"I didn't see this coming. We didn't teach him a single thing about equipment over the past three days."
Before long Yeon-woo drew close.
"Oh—CEO Kim. Team Leader Park."
Waving cheerfully as he approached, Yeon-woo looked even funnier up close because of the enormous field packs. The combined bulk of three military bags seemed larger than Yeon-woo's slender frame.
"We had no idea you'd been called out first. You've been working hard."
Yeon-woo laughed and shook his head.
"Hard work? Oh, right—I have a present."
"Excuse me?"
When Kim Su-hyeok asked back, Yeon-woo rummaged for something sticking out of the pack on his back and spoke as he dug around.
"When we signed the security contract with our company last time, I saw your record—you've been active as a sniper for a long time, right? I earned a reward this round, so I prepared a little something."
Then he pulled the protruding object free from the bag.
"This is the sniper rifle CEO Kim Su-hyeok will be using from now on."
"…Excuse me?"
Kim Su-hyeok had never in his wildest dreams expected to meet his primary weapon in a survival game.